Strength Training for Martial Artists
, by Sandesh Prasannakumar, 8 min reading time
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, by Sandesh Prasannakumar, 8 min reading time
Strength training in martial arts is vital for any martial artist who wants to enhance his or her performance, power, speed, and even endurance and avoid injuries. Martial arts will initially help develop your functional strength, but doing strength training exercises would complement this by focusing on the muscles required to perform punches, kicks or grappling.
With the right program, strength training for martial artists can:
As part of this guide, you’ll learn the advantages strength training offers martial artists, which exercises to perform, sample workout schedules, and program recommendations.
Here are some of the top reasons why strength training is so important for martial artists:
Chinning, bench presses, push-ups, shoulder presses, pull-ups, dips and other exercises that involve pushing or pulling movements through the chest, shoulder and back muscles to develop greater force to deliver more effective punches. These core muscles also translate into stronger strikes, as most martial arts require the use of the abdomen.
Lower body exercises such as squats, deadlifts and those single lower limb movements such as lunges and steps contribute to the power one needs to generate when executing roundhouse kicks, side kicks and others. Hypertrophied glutes, quads and hips can produce more force than the non-hypertrophied ones.
Strength training increases the density and mass of the bones and cartilage, particularly of the rotator cuff, which consists of tendons and connective tissues. It also rectifies issues like muscle imbalances and weaknesses that might cause some joints to be out of place. This effectively prevents over-training and the resulting injuries to the muscles used for any particular activity.
Box jumps combined with strength training exercises act as plyometric exercises that help achieve neuromuscular changes, enabling quick and explosive movements during fights.
Greater reps and sets build tremendous amounts of sarcoplasmic hypertrophy that help you develop your muscular endurance. HYDRIVE enables one to train longer and not get easily tired during strenuous sessions such as games or workouts.
Concentration on the compound movements that exercise more than one particular muscle. Performing exercises targeting small muscles is not as effective or specific to developing Martial Arts skills. Here is the list of top strength training exercises suitable for martial artists:
The training process should be cyclic, with phases of martial arts skills training following phases of strength building. You can devote 12 or 16 weeks to strength phases with training in 3-5 days per week while decreasing the amount of martial arts training. Then, transition into an intense martial arts training phase for technique, cardio, sparring, etc.
The workouts should be divided into lower-body and upper-body exercises for three weekly training days. Avoid going to extremes such that the training volumes get to the extent of overtraining and exhaustion. Provide enough time to rest and replenish the energy sources.
Here is an overall plan you can consider more as a guide when planning your programming with strength training and martial arts.
Please remember that during the frequently used intense martial arts periods, physical strength can be sustained with only two full-body weekly maintenance workouts.
Having an intelligently designed strength training program specific to the needs and requirements of martial artists is crucial for one to emerge as a complete force. Systematic grouping of strength and martial arts-oriented training microcycles with a blend of competition, powerlifting and plyometric movements will significantly elevate all parameters of performance and skill.
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No. When programmed correctly, strength training improves speed, quickness and explosive strength. Plyometrics are particularly beneficial.
Body weight training is good as a general conditioning exercise, but incorporating external loads is vital. Barbells and dumbbells are portable and can incorporate progressive resistance as the training progresses.
Muscular power, maximum strength, and strength endurance during some training phases will prepare you for dynamic power, the power to hit with force and not to get tired.